End of the Weekend Anxiety

It seems that every sunday with out fail, I find myself overwhelmed by all I have to do to prepare for the week. With post-its scattered on the wall above my desk, my never ending to do list plagues me. As of now I have nine different post it's each noting a different task that I need to complete before the day is over. Perhaps one day I will go hard Friday and Saturday to make for any easier Sunday. Well it's time to put mind over matter... here I go again... Happy Sunday Everyone.

Lesson Reflections: Violent Vs. NonViolent Action

On Wednesday, I began a unit on Revolution and Resistance. My intention is to discuss different revolutionary leaders including Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Gandhi and different ways to bring change. As a way to introduce my students to this topic I had them do a looping activity. I gave each of them a blank sheet of paper then asked them to respond to the following prompt: “How do you change a system you do not agree with– through violent or nonviolent action? Explain your choice and give an example of violent or nonviolent action.”  As they were writing I told them to write legibly, leave out their name and respond to the question fully as someone, aside from me, would see their paper. When I said this some students were immediately weary and protested that they did not want anyone to read their response. I tried to reassure them by reiterating they could leave out their name. I collected all of the papers then redistributed them, I was careful about who I gave papers to and made sure I swapped my ELL students papers and gave my advanced students papers with longer responses. I advised them to read the person’s response then write back to the person by expressing whether they agree or disagree and why. Following this activity we defined revolution, resistance, oppression, power and authority; and ended class with an exit ticket. I think that the students enjoyed the looping activity after they got through the initial anxiety. My Penn mentor conjectured that about 80% of students were engaged during the activity. When I reviewed the responses most students gave thoughtful responses to the initial question and very simple responses to their classmates responses. Most of my students expressed that nonviolent action was the best means to bring about change. Others expressed that sometimes there is a need for violent action when you are not being taken seriously. When I do this activity again I will provide a model   of how to respond to another person’s response and ask for their vocal feedback of the activity and content.  

Lesson Reflections: WWI & Interdisciplinary Work

The week before last we covered World War I. I chose to focus on the causes of World War I, the concept of Total War, Women in the War, Weaponry and Warfare, Causalities and the Treaty of Versailles. I tried to organize each day as a different topic. Additionally, during professional development I was able to work with the ninth-grade English teacher that many of my students have about corroborating our lessons. I would try to give them an overview of the historical concepts, while she would explore texts from WWI like All Quiet on the Western Front.

During this unit, I think my lesson on trench warfare and causalities went the best. I began by asking them how many do they think died in WWI. I wrote each of their responses on their board and moved on to Cornell notes. I had the students copy down the definition of trench warfare and also listed some characteristics of life in the trenches. When I asked the students who had heard of trenches many proclaimed that they were learning about this in Ms. Swinehart’s class (the English teacher). Although some complained that they did not want to learn history in English, I was glad that they were taking note of what they were learning in each. Next, I projected a map that showed the arrangement of trenches it displayed primary and secondary  trenches, No Man’s Land and the barbed wire fences. While the students took notes, I set up the desk in a way that resembled the map and asked for three volunteers. I had the students sit on the ground (in the trenches) and pointed out the associations between the desk layout and the trench warfare layout. I told them that occasionally a soldier would be ordered to go out into “No Man’s Land,” (and asked a student to get up) but BOOM (I shook the student), they would meet enemy fire. All of the class seemed engaged with the simulation and I gave each of the volunteers candy for participating. Finally, to get at causalities, I had my students look at a primary source written by a nurse during the war who sits next to a soldier who has just discovered he has lost his legs, then examine a numerical chart with a breakdown of causalities per country. I asked them to compare and contrast the story each of these sources told about causalities. I think the lesson went well although it was a lot to get through, so in the future I might break these two days up. I would have also liked to go back to their initial hypothesis of how many people died and compare this with the numbers on their chart. 

A little bribery= A lot of participation

constructed responses ..district orders

At our school we are required, by the district, to do weekly constructed responses. Our students scores are recorded and teacher compliance is also noted. While I understand they are designed to help students do better on the PSSA’s, it is quite annoying to loose instructional time for this test preparation. Nonetheless, I have slowly but surely been finding ways to negotiate this. One way is to pick readings or design questions that relate to the course material. So this week as we concluded imperialism I had my students read a primary source written by a Chinese imperial officer to Queen Victoria regarding Britain’s exploitative actions in his country. The students were then asked to identify attitudes of the speaker towards European imperialism. We did a collective brainstorm on the board and then the students wrote their paragraphs individually. For the most part students were able to identify the speaker attitude as a negative one, then find quotes within the texts to support their claim. Despite the ridiculous things the higher ups ask to do, I believe there is always a way to be creative within that especially for the sake of the studentsAt our school we are required, by the district, to do weekly constructed responses. Our students scores are recorded and teacher compliance is also noted. While I understand they are designed to help students do better on the PSSA’s, it is quite annoying to loose instructional time for this test preparation. Nonetheless, I have slowly but surely been finding ways to negotiate this. One way is to pick readings or design questions that relate to the course material. So this week as we concluded imperialism I had my students read a primary source written by a Chinese imperial officer to Queen Victoria regarding Britain’s exploitative actions in his country. The students were then asked to identify attitudes of the speaker towards European imperialism. We did a collective brainstorm on the board and then the students wrote their paragraphs individually. For the most part students were able to identify the speaker attitude as a negative one, then find quotes within the texts to support their claim. Despite the ridiculous things the higher ups ask to do, I believe there is always a way to be creative within that especially for the sake of the students